Sport & Story Daily April 18, 2024

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April 18, 2024

Good morning! Government-Sports Line Blurry

How American Taxpayers Support Sports Teams and Athletes
Taxpayer support of sports “is a complicated question,” Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist said in a phone call. “City governments, county governments, state governments spend all sorts of money on finding ways to entertain people and getting them to do healthy things … [and] promote entertainment in order to promote some spirit of taking care of yourself and good health and in order to promote some sense of community. And sports teams provide all of that, or at least some of that.”
^Sportico

Biden: 'Even if You're the Best, Women Are Not Paid Their Fair Share' in Sports
In a social media post, Biden wrote, “Women in sports continue to push new boundaries and inspire us all. But right now we're seeing that even if you're the best, women are not paid their fair share.”

The post comes on the heels of the WNBA Draft and the reality that No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark will make $76,000 as a rookie in the first year of her contract with the Indiana Fever. Her four-year deal is worth around $340,000. Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft last year, was expected to earn more than $12 million in salary as a rookie with the Spurs.
^{Sports Business Journal}

How the WNBA is Preparing to Capitalize on Caitlin Clark and the Rest of the Incoming Star Power
As Yahoo! Sports’ Cassandra Negley writes, “There has been no more pivotal moment for the WNBA than this one with ready-made household names entering a league that has struggled for much of its existence to build them…The task now is to keep the audience developed in the collegiate ranks as upward of 24 million watched Clark, the No. 1 overall pick of the Fever, and Cardoso, the No. 3 selection of the Sky, in the national championship game.
^{Yahoo! Sports}

NBA Postmortem: A Record Salary, Major Investment … and For What?
As FOS reports, “After the Pistons finished the 2022–23 season with the NBA’s worst record, Detroit owner Tom Gore opened up his wallet to bring in Monty Williams, who signed a six-year, $78.5 million contract that at the time was the largest for an NBA coach. Meanwhile, the Wizards’ parent company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, sold a 5% minority stake in the organization to the Qatar Investment Authority last offseason for $200 million, representing the first time a sovereign wealth fund had invested in a franchise from one of the top four U.S. leagues.

“But as the playoffs get underway, Detroit and Washington are staring up at the rest of the league. The Pistons again finished with the worst record in the NBA, at 14-68, which is tied for the 12th-worst win percentage in league history. The Wizards were only one win better at 15-67, the worst season in franchise history.”
^{Front Office Sports}

CAA Taps Alex McGuire to Oversee Sports Media Representation in U.K. and Europe; Signs TV Host Laura Woods (EXCLUSIVE)
In a major move to establish its international presence, leading Hollywood talent agency CAA has appointed Alex McGuire to oversee the firm’s sports media representation efforts throughout the U.K. and Europe. Based in London, McGuire will help guide and grow the agency’s representation of sports broadcasters and on-air talent overseas. CAA has just signed sports broadcaster Laura Woods for exclusive representation in all areas.
^{Variety Sports}

U.S. Reps Raise Concerns That Disney, Fox, WBD Sports Streaming Venture Will Be Anticompetitive
According to Variety Sports, the Disney/ESPN, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery sports-streaming joint venture has “drawn congressional scrutiny.”

“As programmers, your companies exert tremendous influence over pricing across the live sports TV ecosystem,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D.-NY) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D.-Texas) wrote in the letter to Disney’s Bob Iger, Fox’s Lachlan Murdoch, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav.
^{Variety Sports}

CAA World Congress Heading to Nashville in 2025
“Since we launched the World Congress of Sports in the early 2000s, we’ve always held the event in dynamic and important sports cities,” Sports Business Journal Publisher & Executive Editor Abe Madkour said. “We’ve been back in L.A. for the past two years, and we’re really excited to announce today that in conjunction with the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau and our longtime title sponsor, CAA, we will take the World Congress to one of the hottest cities in the U.S. -- Nashville.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

On Location, USOPC to Sell Single-Day Tickets to Team USA House
"Nowhere else can you get this up-and-close to your favorite athletes and come together with other U.S. fans to celebrate your home team," he said. "On Location aims to bring a holistic, once-in-a-lifetime hospitality experience to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and we know Team USA House will do just that."
^{Sports Business Journal}

NBA Gives Jontay Porter Lifetime Ban for Gambling
Raptors C Jontay Porter has been banned from the NBA for life after an investigation revealed he had "disclosed confidential information to bettors, limited his participation in at least one game while he was with Raptors and bet on NBA games while playing in the G League."
^{Sports Business Journal}

Patrick Crakes Shoots Down the Reality of a Super League
Former Fox Sports media exec Patrick Crakes weighed in on the possibility of a Super League, tweeting, “Economics of an 80 team league are not enough to properly compensate the 20 schools that drive all the value.” He went on to note, “The pressure on the declining pay TV system which still (and probably will in the future) covers 80% of the economics for Tier 1 sports means distributors can only support realignments & leagues that over-earn on strategic value to the general market sports fans that still subscribe to PayTV. Properties that meet that definition are getting harder to find. There isn’t any room for a Super League that isn’t filled with Super Teams from top to bottom.”
^Twitter

Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Address International Athlete NIL Issues
The bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-North Carolina) and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Nebraska), seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act and address the significant challenges confronting an often overlooked subgroup during the nearly three-year-old NIL Era.

U.S. immigration regulations prohibit international students in the country on F-1 student visas from participating in employment. F-1 visas provide for only limited employment authorization types, most of which must be connected to the degree the athletes pursue. 
^{On 3}

Teel: Virginia's New NIL Law Will Benefit Athletes, Schools, Donors
As The Richmond Times notes, “The inevitability and wisdom of college athletic departments and their foundations coordinating name, image and likeness compensation for their enrolled athletes has long been clear. Overriding NCAA policy, state law soon will grant Virginia schools that option. Wednesday’s reconvened session of the General Assembly will determine whether the bill, passed by the House and Senate and supported by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, becomes law July 1 or Nov. 15.”
^{The Richmond Times}

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